This invention refers to a process and a device for the fully automatic cleaning of spray guns which have been fouled with paint or varnish.
The cleaning of spray guns for paint and varnish is not only time-consuming, but it is also extremely hazardous to health due to the use of solvents. Persons continuously or frequently in contact with solvents often suffer from more or less serious skin diseases and other illnesses which frequently lead to job disability.
Known cleaning fluids, however, not only pose health risks, they are also environmentally harmful, so that waste disposal is frequently problematical and requires a substantial expenditure. The environment is heavily burdened by improper disposal.
A device for the cleaning of spray guns has become known in the No. EP-A2 0 230 245, this device having a vat into which an outlet for a jet of cleaning fluid opens, under which the spray gun to be cleaned must be held by hand to rinse off the paint and varnish residue adhering to it. The fluid containing the paint residue is collected in the vat, drawn out of the same, purified and returned to the circuit. The cleaning fluid consists of solvents, for which reason a suction device is also provided at the vat for removal of the necessarily arising vapors. Cleansing of the conduits and hollow spaces in the interior of the spray gun is carried out merely by filling the paint reservoir with a solvent which is then driven by compressed air through the conduits of the spray gun to flush them out, with the spray nozzle of the spray gun being held to the mouthpiece of a suction device. It is clear to each and every person skilled in the art that the known device is absolutely unsuitable for practical application and, furthermore, is hazardous to health and provides virtually no improvement over cleaning methods common up to now.